Shipbuilding

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SHIPBUILDING - PAGE 5

Choosing the top local stories of the century is a daunting task. To start, we turned to the book "100 Years of Front Page News," published by the Daily Press in 1995 on our 100th anniversary. We also asked War Museum historian John V. Quarstein for help. The main themes that shaped us in the past century range from war to shipbuilding to desegregation, tourism and high-tech. For more historical photos and an account of how the past 100 years unfolded on the Peninsula, turn to pages C4 and C5.

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth West Jr. of Poquoson are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Ashley Alison, to Richard Alan Charles, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elster Charles of Suffolk. Ashley is a 1997 graduate of Poquoson High School and will begin her senior year at Christopher Newport University in August. Mr. Charles graduated from Denbigh High School in 1986, Newport News Apprentice School in 1989, Christopher Newport University in 1992, received his master's degree from Old Dominion University in 1994 and is currently employed at Newport News Shipbuilding.

PEOPLE Troy Johnson, owner of Modlin Printing and Office Supply in Smithfield, received the 1995 Employer of the Year Award from Smithfield High School's Distributive Education Clubs of America organization. Johnson employs senior Timothy Michael Forbes. Robert L. Bennink of Carrollton has been promoted to police captain with the Hampton Police Division; Rodney D. Caison of Isle of Wight has been promoted to police corporal. Thirty-four professionals graduated from the Leadership Institute of the Virginia Peninsula.

First of two parts To hear Navy officials tell it, shipbuilders like Northrop Grumman Newport News are finally heading for good times. After dwindling to its smallest size in about a century, the Navy's 279-ship fleet will grow to 313 ships over the next decade. A new aircraft carrier will be purchased every four or five years, and submarine production will double. But outside the Navy, who believes it? Not budget experts, who warn that the billions of additional dollars needed in coming years are unlikely to materialize.

HAMPTON ROADS BIG CHANGES, PART I. Ending a year of speculation, Tenneco Inc.'s board of directors officially named Newport News Shipbuilding President William P. Fricks the yard's 15th chief executive. Fricks will take over Nov. 1 when Chairman and Chief Executive William R. "Pat" Phillips Jr. retires. BIG CHANGES, PART II. Tenneco Inc. plans to change Newport News Shipbuilding's name to include the Tenneco moniker. The change is part of the company's broader effort to shed its image as a Houston-based energy company and instead become recognized as a world-class conglomerate.

Estimated at $20 million in 1996, the Monitor rescue effort might have languished indefinitely because of its enormous cost. Then it caught the attention of a sympathetic senator through the help of a congressional assistant with deep Hampton Roads roots. Born in Portsmouth, John Rayfield was a Navy brat whose father served at the shipyard there before becoming Supervisor of Shipbuilding at Newport News. His interest in the Monitor and the history of shipbuilding were already strong when he began working for the region's history-minded congressman, Rep. Herb Bateman.

Most of the region's leading employment sectors had a good month in July. But manufacturing and services didn't, and the Hampton Roads Economic Performance Index showed it. The index fell at a 1.2 percent annualized rate from June, and improved just 1.3 percent over July 1997, said David Garraty, the Virginia Wesleyan College economist who compiles the index. The index is weighted to reflect earnings differences across industries. Transportation equipment manufacturing, which includes high-paying shipbuilding jobs, dropped by 1,700 jobs in July, so that decline took a heavy toll.

PERSON - HARDY Sandra Cecilia Hardy and David Harrington Person were married April 15 at Wesley Grove United Church of Christ in Newport News. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nick Hardy of Nashville, N.C. She graduated from Northern Nash High School in Rocky Mount, N.C., and Newport News Apprentice School. She is a supervisor at Newport News Shipbuilding. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Ware of Hampton and Oliver Person of Queens, N.Y. He graduated from Kecoughtan High School and Newport News Apprentice School.

A House subcommittee is working on a plan to add more than $3 billion for Navy vessels next year. House Democratic budget writers are working on a plan that would begin a doubling of submarine construction in 2010, two years ahead of schedule. Faced with a dwindling submarine fleet, lawmakers said it makes no sense to wait any longer than necessary to begin ramping up production at Northrop Grumman Newport News and General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., the nation's two submarine builders.